IWSG: What's My Name?

The first Wednesday of every month is the Insecure Writer’s Support Group bloghop. It's a day where writers/bloggers reach out and post their fears and doubts about their writing, but also share their triumphs, no matter how big or small.

The biggest issue I have this month is one I've struggled with for as long as I can remember, and that's time. I know most of us struggle with the time issue. We try squeezing seconds out of our busy lives to write a chapter or two, or heck just a few sentences would be great. But I don't want to talk about the time issue today because it so often comes down to prioritizing and re-evaluating personal goals. What I do want to talk about is something that's been bugging me lately, and that's the name game. I'm usually pretty good at naming characters. However, ever since I started writing this sci-fi  story, I can't, for the life of me, seem to come up with a good name for my main character. It's gotten to the point where it's become a mental block. I'm having a hard time writing freely without her name. 

Why? *shrugs* 

I know many of you refer to certain characters as "The Bad Guy" or "Sexy" in your writing until you find a real name. But I can't even do that. I have a few pages where I refer to my main character as XX, but that just hurts my eyes and distracts my train of thought every time I see it. 

So how do you guys settle on names? Do you have a technique, or does it just come to you somewhere between morning coffee and the evening sherry? ;)

Other than that, hope everyone is happy, healthy and writing. :) 

Have a great weekend all.

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Thank you, Alex Cavanaugh for another great bloghop. And a big thank you to all the awesome co-hosts this month! 

To find out more about the IWSG monthly bloghop or the IWSG website, click the links.